Story by UNK Athletic Communications
The eighth-ranked Nebraska Kearney volleyball team overcame a slow start, got contributions from multiple players, rallied in the third set, and hung in the fourth to down 21st-ranked Washburn (18-25, -16, -24, -23) Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center.The Lopers (21-1, 11-1) win a 12th straight match, remain in sole possession of first place in the MIAA standings and end a drought against the Ichabods (13-5, 7-4). WU had taken the last six fall matches, dating back to Oct. 2019, while UNK had won two meetings during the "non-countable" 2021 spring COVID season."As well as we've been playing, I'm sure a lot of people were looking at this one and saying 'okay, but now can you win this one?" said UNK head coach Rick Squiers. "We can move on from that and if we have to play them again (MIAA or NCAA Tournaments), you don't have that part where you don't think you can't do it."Things didn't start well as the 'Bods got out to a 9-1 lead in the first set with UNK having to burn both of its timeouts during this stretch. While the Loper got the deficit down to 10-8 and then 13-10, Washburn finished strong to win by seven. They outhit UNK by over 200 points and dug up seven more balls."Our defense got better as we made our way through the match. We got out of our own heads a little bit and the first part of the first set was just a disaster for us," said Squiers. "It exploited everything about the matchup that's been difficult for us. They come at you from the right side, they block touch a lot of balls … we got frustrated and changed the way we play."
The Lopers bounced back to trail only twice in set two. A 10-4 spurt made it 19-13 as WU committed four unforced attack errors, Minden redshirt junior DS Jensen Rowse served up an ace and Kansas sophomore outside Emilee Lane had one of her 15 kills on the night."Emilee was outstanding, and I thought this might be a match where she could play well," said Squiers. "She was one of our few bright spots down there and, for whatever reason, they had difficulty with her. Even going back to last year, she had some success against them."WU came back strong as they jetted out to leads of 13-7 and 15-9 in the third set. UNK started to chip away, tying things up at 21, 22 and 23 all. While the 'Bods turned an overpass into a 24-23 lead, the Lopers scored the final three points thanks to two kills from lane and a block from her and Missouri freshman middle Mia Berg."(Third set win) was huge because we've had so many 'here we go again' with these guys," said Squiers. "To get that one, I think you start to believe 'okay, we can get over the hump here."UNK really warmed up the fourth to the tune of a .405 efficiency (18-145) but WU almost came back from a 24-18 hole. After a kill by 6-3 lefty righty Rachel Schwensen, redshirt freshman DS Kali Henry made her first appearance of the night and promptly served up two aces. An unforced Loper error and another 'Bods kill made it 24-23."As the match went on, we got a little bit more confident and settled in. We had our best efficiency in the fourth set, played clean and had everything going," said Squiers. "Our serve receive was strong all night long and that group is underrated in what they do."After a decent rally, Berg finally ended the 2:15 match with a kill to the middle of the WU court. She finished with 15 kills and team-highs in both blocks (eight) and attack percentage (.448). While the 'Bods had two more kills (60-58) and seven more digs (79-72), the Lopers hit 19 points higher, was plus three in the serve game and had two more blocks (12-10).Lane came off the bench and reached her kill total in a team-high 38 swings while also having three blocks. Next, Kansas junior outside Asha Regier had all 10 of her kills over the final two sets with Colorado freshman middle Trista Marx having all seven of her kills down the stretch. Finally, Lincoln senior libero Lauren Taubenheim (18), Lincoln grad right side Jaden Ferguson (14) and Kansas junior DS Addyson Mock (12) combined for 44 digs.Schwensen (17 digs, three blocks, .361 pct.), junior outside Jalyn Stevenson (17 kills, 17 digs) and freshman libero Taylor Rottinghaus (219 digs) paced WU.UNK is at No. 19 Central Oklahoma (18-3, 9-2) on Friday night.